Ex–College ‘Cocaine Quarterback’ Details How He Saw Man’s Head Chainsawed Off Over Botched Drug Deal

Former USC national champion tight end Owen Hanson saw a few things during his time as a global drug trafficker. 

"O-Dog," as he was called according to the FBI, eventually graduated from the gridiron to a life of drugs, sports gambling and money laundering that crashed down in 2017 when he was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison. Now out of prison, and the star of an Amazon Prime Video docuseries titled, "Cocaine Quarterback: Signal Caller for the Cartel," Hanson is telling stories from his days doing drug deals. 

(Former USC tight end Owen Hanson went from playing football to being a drug kingpin who was running cocaine to Australia and money laundering the cash back to Mexican drug cartels.  / via Amazon MGM Studios)

During a recent appearance on the "Full Send Podcast," Hanson was asked about the drug cartels and measures they'd take to successfully run their businesses. 

The former Trojans TE, who was released from federal prison over the summer, recalled a time when he saw a drug guy's head get chopped off. 

"Dude, I saw one of the guys that worked for the cartel, his job was to bring 100 kilos from Guatemala," Hanson, who claims he was making $1 million a day moving cocaine in Australia, begins. "The guy brought the 100 kilos over, and I remember the cocaine wasn't cocaine. It was drywall powder." 

OK, so this has to be turned into a movie at some point. I get that Amazon did a docuseries, but wait until you read what happens next. 

"[The cartel leader] says, ‘Hey, you just bought a million dollars worth of drywall powder.’ He says, 'If you don't go fix this, you're going to be dead.' The guy had to go over there, bring him back to Mexico from Guatemala, and he had to take his head off and f--king cut his head off with a saw with a chainsaw. And I saw it with my own eyes," Hanson continues. 

"I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m f--king knee-deep in the cartel at this point.'"

Who was Hanson working for while watching a guy get his head chainsawed off? He's not saying, but he has plenty of stories

The former drug lord, who was on the same 2004 USC roster as Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, Mike Williams and others, knows to keep his mouth shut at this point or he'll be in deep trouble. 

"I don't tell anybody who I was working for, what cartel I was working for, but you know, if you watch the docuseries, obviously the DEA and the FBI, they think they know, but I'm never confirm or deny," Hanson continued. 

"I can't. Otherwise, you guys and I, we won't be having happy day anytime soon."

And why was Hanson, the 6'2, 225-pound tight end called a "Cocaine Quarterback?" 

"I was considered the signal caller, which is in football, the signal caller is the quarterback, right? That's why they call it cocaine quarterback," he explained. "The signal caller is the guy that holds up the signs and calls the shots, calls the plays. I was calling the plays from the United States."

But, like in football, some plays work and some plays don't work so well. At one point, Hanson is laundering drug cartel money and trusts a big-time gambler who offers to launder the money through casinos. 

The first deal goes great for about $1.5 million in laundered cash. Hanson decides to do another deal with the guy. This time, he has $2.5 million on the line. The gambler ends up losing it all on the blackjack table and leaves Hanson hanging for the $2.5 million of the cartel's money. 

To make matters worse, the gambler rats on one of Hanson's street muscle guys. Cops picked up the street muscle guy while he was carrying $700k in cash. 

Now down over $3 million of cartel money, the Cocaine Quarterback says he was left with no choice but to go have a conversation with the guys in Mexico. Hanson prepared for the meeting by downing "Three Xanax, two caps of GHB, and a f--king big gagger of cocaine." 

"If I'm going to die, I'm going to die feeling good, right?" the kingpin noted. 

Hanson eventually finds himself in an SUV filled with Mexican hitmen. He's driven to a lobster town and part of the town is closed off. Nobody there except for the Mexican kingpin at a restaurant with some woman making food. 

"I tell him the truth. I said, ‘Dude, the guy laundered 1.5 million. This gambler, he did this successfully and then he lost the 2.5 the same day he lost 700 from my runner.' He goes, ’What?' He goes, 'I know. It's already been in the newspaper in Australia.' He's been doing his homework.

"It's all over, right? I'm like, ‘F--k, he knows.’ He goes, 'But, there's good news and there's bad news.' He says, 'The good news is you're going to be alive, but the bad news, if you don't pay me back, I'm going to kill you.' And he's telling me this in Spanish. He goes, 'You don't owe me $3.2 million anymore.' He goes, ‘You owe me $4 million and now you work for the cartel.’ I'm like, ‘Holy s--t, dude.’

"I'm this kid from USC with a f--king comb over, right? Like, I'm freaking out."

("O-Dog" thought his life was over when he had to tell a Mexican drug kingpin that he'd lost over $3 million of the cartel's money.  / via Amazon MGM Studios)

After taking a mandated two-year break from running Mexican drugs to Australia, as ordered by the kingpin, Hanson was told it was time to go make the $4 million. 

Hanson says he had 10 kilos of cocaine, broke it down into a liquid, had it bottled in Napa wine bottles and shipped to Australia. The two cases of bottles were then turned over to a chemist in Australia who took the liquid cocaine and turned it back into powder. 

In no time, Hanson paid off the Mexicans, but the Feds eventually came calling. 

By September 2015, Hanson's drug days were over.